Narrow the focus and broaden the mind

Breaking from the pack, the University of Sydney is displaying a surprising degree of agility for a senior player in the Gillard era of higher education.

The 159-year-old university - the oldest in Australia - wants to shed a bit of weight so it can mix with its younger opponents.

Today the university's vice-chancellor, Michael Spence, will unveil an ongoing, internal review being conducted by the university, examining all options for the future shape and size of the institution - including faculty and school structures, courses, bureaucratic administration and student recruitment.

After 12 months of preparation, Dr Spence has outlined a desire to position the university as a high-end research institution, attracting the brightest researchers internationally and finding new ways to identify the most promising students. The university is already regarded as one of Australia's leading research institutions, but the push to raise its profile internationally will help it attract collaborative grants from governments and industry.

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Such a mission statement sharpens focus on the sustainability of carrying a 48,000-strong student body and calls into question the rigour and purpose of certain courses.

It also signals an end to the university trying to offer all things to all people to earn its keep, providing courses from jewellery-making to nuclear physics, a mission sparked by the Dawkins reforms of the 1980s.

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The vice-chancellor says some areas will come under scrutiny, but he would not be drawn on where any cuts could be made. But he said there would be greater focus on producing research of high international standing.

Interestingly, it is a Labor education minister, Julia Gillard, who has given permission indirectly for the university to seek to be truly elite again.

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In March she unveiled her response to the Bradley review into higher education to allow the demands of young people to shape the future of universities. Under the changes outlined by Ms Gillard earlier this year, unlimited numbers of students can be enrolled in any course from 2012.

The Federal Government will fund each university directly by the course numbers. Certain studies, still to be determined, will attract an extra loading. Unpopular subjects - and some universities - deemed to be in the national interest will be propped up by the Government; that is, the Government will pay institutions extra to enrol students in these courses.

A little understood byproduct of these changes is that some universities will be free from chasing extra students. In fact, they could curtail their pursuit of undergraduates, and play to their strengths by placing a greater priority on the higher degree level.

Higher education institutions must negotiate a compact with the Federal Government outlining their desired future direction as long as they meet certain mandated goals, such as increasing the percentage of undergraduate students from poorer backgrounds.

The changes come as the University of Sydney deals with a coming $1 billion capital works program and rising academic and non-academic salaries - $303 million and $291 million last year, respectively.

Concern is growing over the reliance on international students, who generated $208 million in income last year - one-sixth of total income. There are fears that the Chinese and Indian mass student market could contract.

Also, the Federal Government is not expected to increase the amount of money available for universities over the next three years, and a lot of the available cash will be targeted for special projects. This will force universities to be entrepreneurial.

''We need to release resources away from bureaucratic administration, and into salaries and infrastructure. We need to find ways of better facilitating the co-operation of our academic units,'' Dr Spence told staff.

''We need to make it easier for external organisations to deal with the university. We need to take more strategic control of its size and shape. We need to find ways of identifying students of promise and of improving the student experience both inside and outside the classroom.

''Finally, we need to find a small number of large-scale, flagship, inter-disciplinary projects that can harness the energies of the university in collaborative endeavour.''

It is these flagship projects where the vice-chancellor will earn his keep. Dr Spence arrived back in Australia last year from Oxford, where he forged a reputation for encouraging substantial sponsorship from benefactors and corporate groups.

Dr Spence rejects suggestions that such commercial considerations attached to the flagship projects may not be compatible with traditional academic values. ''A university like ours has a very a particular way of dealing with the commercial world,'' he says.

''The purpose of some universities is to help the commercial world meet the challenges of today. Most of our focus, however, is answering the questions not of today but of tomorrow, identifying what the questions will be in 10 years.''

Such an outlook had success at Oxford in gaining financial support for several new research centres and institutes. Dr Spence also had oversight of some of Oxford University's most innovative research units.